Nasty_Bird_'90

I've heard more than a few times that you're supposed to prime the oiling system in a new motor befor you start it up for the first time. You use an adapter on an electric drill and spin the oil pump through the distributor hole. What is the difference between doing that and unplugging the coil wire and fuel pump fuse and turning the motor over with the starter? Will it not spin fast enough to build pressure? Please shed some light on this subject! Thx.

RB83L69

If you use the drill method, no pressure will be built up unless you either use a distributor housing, or one of the tools that simulates one. The oil feed to the right bank lifters goes RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE of the dist hsg; the 2 little bosses down near the bottom of it seal it off in normal installation; without it, you have a ½" diameter LEAK in the pressurized oil system.

Personally I don't bother with all that. If the engine is built right it's totally unnecessary. Millions of cars are built by dozens of manufacturers every year, and I'd bet not one of them has any kind of requirement that this be done before a brand-new car is started fo rthe first time.

I use white lithium (NOT moly since it plugs oil filters and forms a layer of sludge in the bottom of the pan) on every place in the valve train where anything touches anything else, and either light (5W-30 or similar) motor oil or ATF on bearings.

Just fill the oil filter with oil before you put it on; that's all you really need to do if the motor was properly pre-lubed during build-up, as described above.

89firechicken

priming your oil system isn't a bad idea it's just more safty for your fresh motor no matter what a dry start is bad. yes a properly biult motor may not need it but, do you really want to take the chance. all that time you spent could easily be wasted. it's also good to make sure your getting oil pressure so you've been verified your oil pump works or was installed right.

ede

i wouldn't bother priming it, unless you assembled it dry other wise i tihnk it's a waste of time. only time i do it is with an external remote oil cooler or filter system, and even then i'm not sure it matters.

wm_sorg

Depends on if the motor is freshly built or not. I insisted on doing this when I was helping my friend put a freshly built RHS engine in his 75 lemans.

This saved us from pulling the engine! It turns out that RHS forgot to plug 3 oil galley holes in the rear of the engine. They were not detectable because the temporary plugs were painted over. Once the pump primed they all poped out.

Nasty_Bird_'90

Thanx for the help guys. It's a brand new motor I've been building for the last few months. I used the Moly lube when I put the bottom end together b/c up until now, I hadn't really been informed of a difference between it and the white lithium. I used plenty of it though!